GE develops new, tiny relay to power mobile devices

A new and tiny mechanical relay may help power next generation of mobile devices

By Larry Rulison

Published 6:33 pm, Thursday, March 20, 2014

Niskayuna

Scientists at General Electric Co. in Niskayuna have developed a type of mechanical relay they believe will be an important — but extremely small — part of a new generation of smartphones and tablets that will be more powerful and reliable than today's devices.

GE said it has developed metal switches for micro-scale mechanical devices, or chips, that control the flow of power to electronic devices, from handheld electronics to large pieces of industrial equipment.

Using a unique combination of materials, GE said the new switch, which is the width of a human hair, is extremely durable and better functioning than other switch devices that use materials such as semiconductors.

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And that functionality, GE's scientists said, will be required as the mobile device market moves to cellular data networks known as LTE-Advanced, or True 4G. Today's most advanced data networks in the United States run 4G LTE, although some parts of Asia already have LTE-Advanced.

GE said the wider bandwidths of LTE-Advanced, which has download speeds of 3 gigabits a second compared to 300 megabits per second for 4G LTE, require more advanced switches than are in most of today's cellphones.

GE's metal switches are extremely small, have low power loss and are good at isolating radio bands while limiting distortion, qualities that will be needed in the more advanced phones, the company said. Hundreds of the switches are inlaid on a tiny micro mechanical device or chip.

"We're guiding a transformational change in switch technology and I'm excited to see where it goes next," said Chris Keimel, process development engineer at GE Global Research in Niskayuna.

Chris Giovanniello, vice president of business development at GE Ventures Licensing, also located at GE's Niskayuna research campus, said the GE micro switch device would cost as much as current semiconductor-based switches, but offer better performance. He said GE has been making them on wafers, similar to how computer chips are made, and he believes that they could even be scaled up to handle more high-power technologies such as machines that power the wireless systems operated by cellphone companies.

He said GE is currently making only prototypes and doing low-volume manufacturing in its lab, but it could sell the technology to companies that specialize in mobile technology manufacturing.

"We are pursuing a licensing business model to enable the proliferation of the technology to the broader market," Giovanniello said.